March 7th, From The Bible
¶ And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow. And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.
(I Chronicles 4:9, 10)
The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow. Then called I upon the name of the LORD; O LORD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. ...
Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee. For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.
(Psalms 116:3, 4, 7, 8)
He shall pray unto God, and he will be favourable unto him: and he shall see his face with joy: for he will render unto man his righteousness. ...
He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light. Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man, To bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living.
(Job 33:26, 28–30)
And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
(Isaiah 35:10)
¶ For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.
(Isaiah 65:17–19)
¶ And it came to pass, that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the way side begging: And hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant. And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And they which went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried so much the more, Thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought unto him: and when he was come near, he asked him, Saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee. And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God.
(Luke 18:35–43)
¶ And it came to pass the day after, that he went into a city called Nain; and many of his disciples went with him, and much people. Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother. And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people.
(Luke 7:11–16)
And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen; Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.
(Luke 19:37, 38)
After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come. Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest. Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. ...
And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, ...
... heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. ...
... ¶ And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.
(Luke 10:1–3, 8 (to 2nd ,), 9 heal, 17–20)
Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. ...
These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
(John 15:8, 11)
Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.
(II Corinthians 2:14)
... in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, ...
As unknown, and yet well known; ...
As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; ...
(II Corinthians 6:4 1st in, 9 (to 1st ;), 10 (to 1st ;))
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
(Psalms 126:5)
Who that has felt the loss of human peace has not gained stronger desires for spiritual joy? The aspiration after heavenly good comes even before we discover what belongs to wisdom and Love. The loss of earthly hopes and pleasures brightens the ascending path of many a heart. The pains of sense quickly inform us that the pleasures of sense are mortal and that joy is spiritual.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 265:23)
Sorrow is turned into joy when the body is controlled by spiritual Life, Truth, and Love.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 14:16–18)
In Revelation xxi. 1 we read: —
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 572:19–22)
Accompanying this scientific consciousness was another revelation, even the declaration from heaven, supreme harmony, that God, the divine Principle of harmony, is ever with men, and they are His people. Thus man was no longer regarded as a miserable sinner, but as the blessed child of God. ... This is Scriptural authority for concluding that such a recognition of being is, and has been, possible to men in this present state of existence, — that we can become conscious, here and now, of a cessation of death, sorrow, and pain. This is indeed a foretaste of absolute Christian Science.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 573:13–18 (to .), 23–28)
When we wake to the truth of being, all disease, pain, weakness, weariness, sorrow, sin, death, will be unknown, and the mortal dream will forever cease.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 218:32–2)
When this is understood, we shall never affirm concerning the body what we do not wish to have manifested. ... Science includes no rule of discord, but governs harmoniously.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 219:14–15, 20–21)
Trials teach mortals not to lean on a material staff, — a broken reed, which pierces the heart. We do not half remember this in the sunshine of joy and prosperity. Sorrow is salutary. Through great tribulation we enter the kingdom. Trials are proofs of God’s care. Spiritual development germinates not from seed sown in the soil of material hopes, but when these decay, Love propagates anew the higher joys of Spirit, which have no taint of earth. Each successive stage of experience unfolds new views of divine goodness and love. ...
Sorrow has its reward. It never leaves us where it found us. The furnace separates the gold from the dross that the precious metal may be graven with the image of God. The cup our Father hath given, shall we not drink it and learn the lessons He teaches?
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 66:6, 30)
A blundering despatch, mistakenly announcing the death of a friend, occasions the same grief that the friend’s real death would bring. You think that your anguish is occasioned by your loss. Another despatch, correcting the mistake, heals your grief, and you learn that your suffering was merely the result of your belief. Thus it is with all sorrow, sickness, and death. You will learn at length that there is no cause for grief, and divine wisdom will then be understood. Error, not Truth, produces all the suffering on earth.
If a Christian Scientist had said, while you were laboring under the influence of the belief of grief, “Your sorrow is without cause,” you would not have understood him, although the correctness of the assertion might afterwards be proved to you. So, when our friends pass from our sight and we lament, that lamentation is needless and causeless. We shall perceive this to be true when we grow into the understanding of Life, and know that there is no death.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 386:16–2)
The infinite never began nor will it ever end. Mind and its formations can never be annihilated. Man is not a pendulum, swinging between evil and good, joy and sorrow, sickness and health, life and death. Life and its faculties are not measured by calendars. The perfect and immortal are the eternal likeness of their Maker. Man is by no means a material germ rising from the imperfect and endeavoring to reach Spirit above his origin.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 245:32–8)
Christian Science reveals harmony as proportionately increasing as the line of creation rises towards spiritual man, — towards enlarged understanding and intelligence; but in the line of the corporeal senses, the less a mortal knows of sin, disease, and mortality, the better for him, — the less pain and sorrow are his.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 557:10–16)
In the result of some unqualified condemnations of scientific Mind-healing, one may see with sorrow the sad effects on the sick of denying Truth. He that decries this Science does it presumptuously, in the face of Bible history and in defiance of the direct command of Jesus, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel,” to which command was added the promise that his students should cast out evils and heal the sick. He bade the seventy disciples, as well as the twelve, heal the sick in any town where they should be hospitably received.
If Christianity is not scientific, and Science is not of God, then there is no invariable law, and truth becomes an accident. Shall it be denied that a system which works according to the Scriptures has Scriptural authority?
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 342:5–20)
Mortals must emerge from this notion of material life as all-in-all. They must peck open their shells with Christian Science, and look outward and upward. ...
From a material source flows no remedy for sorrow, sin, and death, for the redeeming power, from the ills they occasion, is not in egg nor in dust. ... Thus it is learned that matter is a manifestation of mortal mind, and that matter always surrenders its claims when the perfect and eternal Mind is understood.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 552:16–19, 22–24, 28)
This is the doctrine of Christian Science: that divine Love cannot be deprived of its manifestation, or object; that joy cannot be turned into sorrow, for sorrow is not the master of joy; that good can never produce evil; that matter can never produce mind nor life result in death. The perfect man — governed by God, his perfect Principle — is sinless and eternal.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 304:9)
In the spirit of Christ’s charity, — as one who “hopeth all things, endureth all things,” and is joyful to bear consolation to the sorrowing and healing to the sick, — she commits these pages to honest seekers for Truth.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. xii:23)
This is the day the Lord has made; / Be glad, give thanks, rejoice; / Stand in God’s presence, unafraid, / In praise lift up your voice. / All perfect gifts are from above, / And all our blessings show / The amplitude of God’s dear love / Which every heart may know.
The Lord will hear before we call, / And every need supply; / Good things are freely given to all / Who on God’s word rely. / We come today to bring Love praise / Not for such gifts alone, / But for the higher, deeper ways / In which God’s love is shown.
For sin destroyed, for sorrow healed, / For health and peace restored; / For Life and Love by Truth revealed, / We thank and bless the Lord. / This is the day the Lord has made, / In praise lift up your voice. / In shining robes of joy arrayed, / Be glad, give thanks, rejoice.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 585)
Brood o’er us with Thy shelt’ring wing, / ’Neath which our spirits blend / Like brother birds, that soar and sing, / And on the same branch bend. / The arrow that doth wound the dove / Darts not from those who watch and love.
If thou the bending reed wouldst break / By thought or word unkind, / Pray that his spirit you partake, / Who loved and healed mankind: / Seek holy thoughts and heavenly strain, / That make men one in love remain.
Learn, too, that wisdom’s rod is given / For faith to kiss, and know; / That greetings glorious from high heaven, / Whence joys supernal flow, / Come from that Love, divinely near, / Which chastens pride and earth-born fear,
Through God, who gave that word of might / Which swelled creation’s lay: / “Let there be light, and there was light.” / What chased the clouds away? / ’Twas Love whose finger traced aloud / A bow of promise on the cloud.
Thou to whose power our hope we give, / Free us from human strife. / Fed by Thy love divine we live, / For Love alone is Life; / And life most sweet, as heart to heart / Speaks kindly when we meet and part.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 30)
Father, we Thy loving children / Lift our hearts in joy today, / Knowing well that Thou wilt keep us / Ever in Thy blessed way. / Thou art Love and Thou art wisdom, / Thou art Life and Thou art All; / In Thy Spirit living, moving, / We shall neither faint nor fall.
Come we daily then, dear Father, / Open hearts and willing hands, / Eager ears, expectant, joyful, / Ready for Thy right commands. / We would hear no other voices, / We would heed no other call; / Thou alone art good and gracious, / Thou our Mind and Thou our All.
In Thy house securely dwelling, / Where Thy children live to bless, / Seeing only Thy creation, / We can share Thy happiness, / Share Thy joy and spend it freely. / Loyal hearts can feel no fear; / We Thy children know Thee, Father, / Love and Life forever near.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 58)
